Orion
by broadwaybear
Summary: In which there is a fight, Artemis is confused, a story is told and Robin is wise beyond his years. Rob/Artemis friendship with a little Spitfire thrown in for good measure.


Orion

Artemis went flying out of the tent in a huff. Sand swirled around her stomping feet, sending up small clouds every time she stepped. She crested one hill, then two, until she felt she was satisfactorily far enough away from the small camp. They were stuck in this ugly, stupid wasteland for the night until the bio-ship had time to repair itself. One full night of the entirety of Young Justice crammed together in a tiny, emergency tent. Sure, the team was only five people, but in Artemis' opinion it was one person too big. Whether that person was Wally or herself she had yet to decide.

She slid down into the sand -accompanied by the unpleasant feeling of every particle of the stupid stuff settling into every crevasse of her body- brought her knees up to her chest and let out a sigh. She didn't know if she was sad or angry or hurt or furious. She could only definitely pick out confusion. Artemis was the type of person who liked certainty, stability, she like to have total control over her environment, so when her own emotions were out of her control it was all she could do to keep from slipping over that delicate edge and out right punching something or someone into a bloody pulp. She let herself take a few, calming breaths until she felt her angry heartbeat slow down. She absently brushed loose strands of blonde hair out of her face and gazed forlornly up at the stars, wishing -not for the first time- that she could actually identify constellations. They were all just points of light in the sky to her.

"He's not Orion, you know."

Artemis jumped and felt her heartbeat speed up again, body pumping with surprised adrenaline. She barely stopped herself from lashing out at the sudden sound. Not that it would have mattered, she seriously doubted she would ever get a hit on the resident ninja. Good golly, she _hated_ when he did that. "That doesn't make any sense, Robin." she spit out venomously, then immediately felt bad about it. So what if he was obnoxiously quiet? She had no right to take her frustrations out on him.

Clearly, he wasn't phased. "Wally. Wally isn't Orion." he said matter-of-factly, like that somehow cleared up everything.

Artemis rolled her eyes and said, "Obviously; he's Wally, not a cat from Men in Black." Robin raised an amused eyebrow at her. She did not like the feeling of stupidity it gave her and hissed a "What?" at him.

"You do know where that cat's name came from, don't you?" he asked, only partly rhetorical.

She winced and tentatively replied, "From... the mind of one of the writers...?"

Robin smiled smugly at her and she bit back the instinct to swear at him. It would certainly not help her already poor reputation. "Orion, is that grouping of stars, right there." he said, pointing up into the sky.

She didn't even bother looking up. "I never see the shapes, just the-"

"Shh," he interrupted, not even looking at her. "Try for me." Again she forced down the habit of simply saying something snippy and walking away, and genuinely tried. She followed his gaze into the heavens, looking exactly where he pointed, and attempted to keep an open mind. "Look, there, where you were just staring. That's his belt, and follow those to the rest of his body, and his legs and arms. Above that is his head and... yep, there they are, his bag is on the left and his bow is on the right."

She stared intently and the moment she let go of her preconceived notions of never seeing constellations, there it was. Orion in all his glory. "Woah." she said, understating.

"Yep." Robin chimed in happily, not even being snarky... for once. Maybe, she thought, he just liked being able to teach somebody one of his random pieces of intelligence and have them actually care for once. A very small part of her felt guilty for always shooting down his random spouts of knowledge, but most of it was just so _useless_.

"So, he has a bow?" she asked, "That's cool."

She didn't look, eyes still glued to her first constellation, but she could here the smile in his voice. "I thought you'd like that. Orion was a great hunter back in Ancient Greece. He was seriously famous, one of the best archers ever. In fact, he was so confident in his abilities that he even had the audacity to claim he was better than Artemis herself. Now, Artemis, who I assume to be your namesake, was the virgin goddess-"

"Of the hunt and the moon," the modern day Artemis interrupted, "I know. Protector of all wild places and maidens."

"Hey," Robin said, miffed, "Do you want me to tell the story or do you know it already?"

"Sorry," Artemis said, looking down sheepishly.

"Alright," Robin said, and launched back into the tale, "Where was I? Oh, yeah, Artemis. Eternally chaste, the great huntress, ect. So, anyway, she heard about Orion's claim and, as was the usual reaction of the gods when their strength was called into question, was pissed. She went to him and challenged him, demanding he back up his boasts.

"Now, here's where the story starts to veer depending on where you here it. Some say that she won but spared him anyway. Some say they tied. But personally I like the version where he beats her but impresses her so much that rather than smite him -as gods and goddesses were wont to do- she fell madly in love with him."

"What you have to understand is that Artemis didn't just choose to not have sex ever, she'd actually sworn an oath. To Zeus. It was an 'I will never loose my virginity, or you may take my life and throw it in the pit of Tartarus' deal. Tartarus was the god's version of death, obviously they can't die, but it was like a vortex of eternal damnation.

"So, yeah. Artemis had a twin brother -don't you dare interrupt me again or I swear I will stop and leave you in suspense for all eternity- Artemis had a twin brother named Apollo. Apollo was god of the sun, and the only other being in the universe to have ever bested Artemis in archery. They were really close. Now he noticed how much time Artemis was spending with the mortal Orion and he was worried for her. So one day Apollo bet Orion that he couldn't swim the whole length of the ocean; and Orion, never one to back down from a challenge, clearly, accepted and began his swim. That same day Apollo took Artemis out for a ride in his golden chariot, saying that he missed spending time with her since she was gone so often now among the mortals."

"They went for a ride over the ocean and Apollo began to tease her for losing to a mortal. Attempting to save her dignity, Artemis boasted that she could hit any target Apollo set for her and Apollo took his chance. He pointed to a tiny speck, far far away across the water and challenged his sister to hit it. She fearlessly accepted, knowing that she could easily hit the mark. What she didn't know was that the speck was Orion."

Artemis' eyes grew wide, she had guessed as much earlier, but the whole time she had prayed it wasn't so. Robin carried on the tale, "Artemis strung her bow, knocked an arrow and aimed. Her shot flew straight and true, hitting its target perfectly. It was only when she heard his scream that she realized she had been fooled. She flew to Orion's side, sending words of sorrow and regret to him, but it was no use. By the time she reached him, he was already dead. She wept and cursed her brother, but there was nothing to be done but pay Charon and pray for an eternity in Elysium. In her sorrow she caught his final breath and threw it into the night sky which was her domain. There the breath became stars and Orion's form was forever burned into the heavens."

Robin fell silent, allowing the wind to carry away his words, far into the night. Artemis stared into the sky, eyes carefully tracing the shining form. She tried to remind herself that it was just a story, that there were no gods or goddesses and no hunters dying for love. It didn't stop her eyes from burning. She squeezed them shut and placed her forehead against her knees, trying to ignore the ache in her chest.

"Wally isn't Orion." Robin repeated and Artemis looked up, surprised.

"That's all this was for?" she asked, slightly indignant, "To make the point that Wally isn't Orion."

He seemed to ignore her and continued on, "I mean, sure, he boasts and annoys you to get your attention, but it's not the same. He'd never beat you at archery for one and two: he'd never be slow enough to actually let someone hit him."

Artemis let an annoyed huff of air, the beautiful story ruined by the name of that horrible speed demon. "Look, I get it. He's not Orion. Can you please just leave me alone?"

"No," Robin insisted, "You don't get it. You're not Artemis either. You haven't vowed to be chaste all your life or never to be in love. You don't have to be afraid of it. And maybe we'd all be better off if you _both_ got over you fears and accepted that. You won't hurt him." Artemis looked him straight in the eye, wishing desperately that the younger boy understood the enormity of those words. "And he would never hurt you. I'd beat him senseless first. You won't be hurt by anyone here. We do trust you and we do care about you. Just stop pushing everyone away."

Artemis looked back up at the sky, her eyes now finding the constellation with ease. She contemplated the Boy Wonder's words. What did she feel for the ginger idiot? She was supposed to be part of this team now, didn't that mean being honest with them and that they would accept her? The confusion wasn't entirely gone but something in her heart beat a little smoother, the craziness in her head was a little more orderly. She smiled, "Thanks Rob, I-"

He was gone.

"-I _hate_ it when you do that!"

She sighed and stood slowly, trying to brush as much sand off as possible. She would kill for a shower right about now. She sighed again, she could threaten all she wanted, it wouldn't get her anywhere. She spared one last glance at the stars and the now familiar person staring back down at her. She started walking back up the dune toward the warm fire surrounded by her... Surrounded by all the people in her life who would never be Orion.


End file.
